Snow Cones
by Esperata
Summary: Set after 'Otter Gone Wild'. Does this episode really spell the end for Skipper/Marlene fans? Not while I have anything to say about it.


Marlene was tired but she couldn't sleep yet. It had been a long and somewhat confusing day and she couldn't rest 'til she'd sorted her head out. She was feeling… disappointed with herself. With a sigh she sat by her pool and looked up at the night sky.

In actual fact she could remember little about the day. She remembered the penguins asking her out with them to get snow cones. She remembered how she'd been terrified to learn they meant to go outside the zoo… somewhere she'd never been… but Skipper had assured her nothing would happen to her with them there. And she'd trusted him.

After that things got hazy and she only remembered finding herself being carried back to her habitat in a cage. Plus Julien suggesting they should get together. She'd rebuffed him swiftly… about the only thing she felt she'd done right… but the penguins had refused to explain why he'd suggested it. They seemed to think it best she didn't know. But Marlene couldn't just ignore it. So she'd gone over to the lemur habitat where Julien had described in length how she'd gone 'wild' and been irresistibly drawn to his 'manly awesomeness'.

As he told her she'd felt a wave of nausea. Not because of him but because of how she'd behaved. However she couldn't explain that to him and had retreated back to her own enclosure to think things through.

It wasn't that she _didn't_ like Julien. In truth he was the sort of guy she typically went for. Fun, confident, and handsome. When she'd first arrived at the zoo and met him, she'd immediately thought about the fun they could have together. He was the archetypal party-animal and Marlene liked to have a good time.

But she'd had several such boyfriends before. All a laugh and good fun but none that really lasted. So she'd refrained from giving Julien any encouragement. Perhaps, she'd thought, she needed to get to know him better first. See what they really had in common.

By the time the penguins had returned from their travels, she'd found out that though Julien was fun and she liked him a lot, he was not really any different from any of the boys she'd dated before. If anything he was just more self-centred. It would be fun, she decided, but ultimately not worth it.

The penguins though, were the complete opposite. Or rather, Skipper was. At first Marlene didn't like him at all. He was everything she didn't like. He ordered people about as though he were somehow in command of the zoo… and true Julien did that too, but Skipper did it in a… much more commanding way. And Skipper never seemed to have time for fun. It was always training, or a mission, even when it should have been something fun.

And on a personal note, he was much too stocky for her tastes. She liked her men sleek.

But then she'd gotten to know him better. He was so bossy because he genuinely cared about the zoo and its inhabitants. They were his responsibility. Marlene had never met anyone so dedicated to others. It was rather sweet. And she'd seen first hand how he cared about his 'troops'. He might refer to them as his team but Marlene knew now they meant more to him than that. She'd seen their despair when they thought Rico was going to die. She'd heard Skipper's agony when Private was taken from them. It had touched something deep inside her.

And she'd been stunned to learn the penguins knew how to party. Or hootenanny as they referred to it. Skipper really knew how to shake his tail feathers. Which brought her to the next point. His stocky build belied a grace and well, sleekness, that she hadn't seen at first. Watching them train showed a rhythm and grace that matched anything Julien could do. But she'd also seen them in the water and realised it wasn't true that penguins couldn't fly… they simply didn't fly in _air_.

So gradually she'd grown very fond of Skipper, particularly when he did those little things that none of her boyfriends… or Julien… ever did. Like popping over simply to check how she was doing. Or offering to take her out for a snow cone. Skipper thought of others first… and Marlene found she liked it when he did that.

But it seemed her instinct was still towards the type of guy she'd always gone for… and she thought now that it was the _wrong_ type. Sure they were fun for a while… but ultimately it always wound up that she didn't feel they truly cared for her. And Marlene wanted someone who'd love her… someone who'd think of her and whether she was OK… someone who she could rely on to be there when she needed…

Someone like Skipper in fact. And that was what was bothering her now more than anything. She'd finally grown up enough to understand what mattered most to her and her stupid hormones led her astray… chasing after the momentary fun instead of the lasting affection she truly desired.

What would he think of her now? She'd acted like a stupid school girl… giggling over a passing fancy. She put her head in her hands and wondered how else she could mess things up. Not that she seriously expected Skipper to think of her in that way. They could hardly make a more unlikely couple. He would never see her as anything other than a shallow, fun-time girl… and certainly not as a long-time prospect… so in a sense it didn't matter.

But it mattered to _her_. True they would probably never get together but she hated to think he thought less of her. She would accept they could never be more than friends so long as she knew he thought well of her. But did he?

A sound distracted her and she raised her head to look across the water. A black and white figure was stood on the edge of her habitat.

"Still awake?" Skipper sounded relaxed.

"Yeah," she agreed, smiling as she thought 'At least he's still willing to talk to me'.

"You should probably get some sleep," he suggested.

"Yeah… but I wanted to apologise."

"Apologise?"

"Yeah, I acted like an idiot today. If you hadn't…"

"Don't worry about it," he interrupted. "Tougher men than you have cracked in foreign environments." They stayed a moment in silence before Skipper spoke again.

"Erm… I brought you something." She waited for him to come over but he didn't move. "You'll have to come over here for it," he explained. She swam across to him and, as she pulled herself out of the water, she saw a shape by his side. He held it out to her. It was a snow cone.

"Seemed a shame you should have gone through all that and not got one," he commented. Marlene was glad that the darkness hid the tears in her eyes.

"Thanks Skipper." He nodded at her before saluting her in farewell.

"Sleep well Marlene."

"You too, Skipper," she murmured as he disappeared back across the zoo.


End file.
